Various kinds of materials have hitherto been employed as an oleospecific absorbent for rapidly removing effluents such as crude oil, heavy oil and other oily substances which are flown out of an oil tanker or a tank lorry, etc., in the course of transportation by sea or overland so as to avoid pollution problems otherwise brought about by the accidental harmful effluents.
The above-mentioned oleospecific absorbing materials include straw, synthetic resin foam such as fibrous polymer material, polyurethane or the like, expanded perlite, and coir dust. Several, such as polymerized fiber and synthetic resin foam, are too expensive to be used as an oil-absorbing material for removing economically a large amount of oil floating on the water. The materials have also had only limited effect, as oil absorbents and water repellents, and have often been defective in generating harmful gases when the materials were burnt up, after having been employed for removing the effluent oil, thus causing a secondary pollution problem and other difficulties.